---
title: The walls were built of small pieces of jasper, and various coloured… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The walls were built of small pieces of jasper, and various coloured marbles, not larger than a man’s hand; so subtilely joined, however, that, but for their different hues, they might be taken for one entire stone. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Story of the 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower., sentence 9

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The walls were built of small pieces of jasper, and various coloured marbles, not larger than a man’s hand; so subtilely joined, however, that, but for their different hues, they might be taken for one entire stone.

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**What happens:** build, join, take · **To what, where:** walls, that

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77685:8:9
# text = The walls were built of small pieces of jasper, and various coloured marbles, not larger than a man’s hand; so subtilely joined, however, that, but for their different hues, they might be taken for one entire stone.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	jasper	jasper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
12	various	various	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	coloured	coloured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	marbles	marble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	conj	_	_
18	than	than	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	subtilely	subtilely	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	joined	join	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	however	however	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
35	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	hues	hue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	aux:pass	_	_
41	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	45	nummod	_	_
44	entire	entire	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** | past · passive |  | the walls |  |  |  | of small pieces of jasper | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **join** | participle |  | that |  |  |  | however, subtilely *property* | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **take** | might · passive |  | walls *= wall* |  |  |  | for marbles's different hues; for one entire stone | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for hue=Beneficiary |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Project Gutenberg book 77685 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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